Page 3 of Miami Heat (Urban Heat 3)

She raised an eyebrow at him.

“Please.”

She sighed and stood to move to his side. When he raised his arm, she gave in to the urge to settle into his side and breathe in his scent. He smelled of her bath gel and shampoo. She pushed fingers into his damp hair, loving how he kept it cut short, almost as if it had been hacked off in stunted spikes, but with order and sexiness.

“Marry me, Sakura.”

All thoughts of his hair fled her mind. “Adam, you’ve asked me a million times…”

“Twice.”

“Well, this makes the third time.” She straightened. “And don’t say that charm thing, or I’ll punch you.”

He opened his mouth to say something, but changed his mind. A stubborn set she recognized came over him. She saw it in the light in his eyes and the stiffness in his jaw. “I’m not giving up on you.”

“You might as well, because it’s not happening!” She considered cutting off their relationship, but the words to dump him locked on her tongue. Instead, she tried another tactic to drive the message home. “I helped refine your skills when you were a newb.”

“So what?”

“I can’t see you as anything, but…well…”

“Beneath you,” he growled and surged to his feet. “You think I’m not on your level because I work for your dad and because when we met you put me on my back with a well-placed kick. Is that it?”

“I don’t think you’re beneath me.”

He bent almost in half, standing in front of her. “Look me in the eyes and say that.”

She waved a hand and stood. Pushing him back both failed and turned out to be a mistake. Touching Adam at any time woke desire in her body, even if they’d just had sex, and the man’s strength far exceeded her own. She tried moving away. He caught her and spun her to face him.

“Sakura.”

Damn, how she enjoyed her name on his lips. She’d always hated the name, feeling it did not define who she was. With the way Shae lived now, with a Japanese lover, the name Sakura would be perfect for her.

“Okay,” she admitted. Maybe she needed to offend Adam to make him back off. “I do think you’re beneath me. I mean you’re right. I can’t beat you anymore, but all I still see is the scrawny little weakling that came along begging my father to give him a chance.”

Adam flinched. She’d lied. He branded his image on her mind and body on a daily basis. A scrawny weakling was not what she saw.

“You’re still begging, but now it’s me you want. You already got the job.”

His nostrils flared, and he released her to step back. “That’s what you think, huh? I’m using you?”

Regret tightened in her chest. “I didn’t say that. Look, Adam. We’re not right for each other, okay? The sooner you accept it, the better.” She dared look at him but didn’t see the hurt she expected. His face a mask of anger, his nostrils flared, he spun away to pace. Sakura straightened her shoulders. “Are you going with me to Miami?”

“No.”

She blinked. “What?”

He stopped pacing and faced her. She still couldn’t read his expression or what might be on his mind. “You said yourself this isn’t work related, and I’m just a protector, correct? I’m under no obligation to join you.”

“Are you for real? You’re going to be that way?”

“What way, Sakura? Did you expect me to trot along behind you, to kiss your ass?”

Her temper flared, and she raised a hand to smack his face, but he caught it. They eyed each other in silence for a few minutes, and then she wrenched her arm from his hold. “You’re fr

ee to get the hell out of my house.”

As she stomped down the hall, she waited for him to follow or to call after her, but his steps echoed in the opposite direction. Soon the front door opened and closed, and Sakura found a tear running down her face. She swiped at it, scrubbing her cheek until it hurt and then began packing a suitcase. From this moment on, she needed to dismiss Adam from her thoughts and concentrate on gathering information about her mother’s death. When she returned to San Diego, she and Adam would talk.

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